Impressive literary lineup for Bellingen Readers & Writers Festival

The Bellingen Readers & Writers Festival is returning on the long weekend in June with a star-studded cast of contemporary Australian writers, including cartoonist/philosopher Michael Leunig, foreign correspondent Peter Greste, ABC-TV Book Club panelist Marieke Hardy and author Don Watson.

With Aboriginal historian Bruce Pascoe, author/broadcaster Caroline Baum, music biographer Stuart Coupe and an extensive lineup of talented national, regional and local writers, the festival on June 8–10 promises to be fun, intimate, thought-provoking, engaging and occasionally challenging.

The festival’s keynote address will be presented by award-winning journalist and foreign correspondent Professor Peter Greste, who along with two of his colleagues, was arrested and jailed in Egypt in 2013.

His 2017 book The First Casualty is a “first-hand account of how the war on journalism has spread from the battlefields of the Middle East to the governments of the West”.

Following his Saturday evening address, Peter will be joined by investigative journalist Wendy Bacon, Walkley Award winner Chris Nash, and photo-journalist Tim Page in a discussion panel titled ‘Real News, Fake News and the Future of Good Journalism’.

‘An Evening with Michael Leunig’ will conclude the festival on Sunday.

The acclaimed cartoonist-philosopher-poet will present his unique views on society and creativity.

He will take part in an in-depth conversation with Caroline Baum and treat the audience to some live Leunig drawing.